Simviation Forum - change to 3 bladed prop?

Mar 16^th, 2006 at 2:44pm

grankin01 Offline
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I am new to the community and modding for fs2004 and would like to change the prop on my cherokee and comanche from 2 blades to 3 blades. I understand I will probably have to do this through the MDL file. My question is two fold: how do I do this and what programs are best to use?

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Reply #1 - Mar 16^th, 2006 at 3:10pm

garymbuska Offline
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I think you are corect that you would have to make changes in the MDL file.
The only problem is in order to do that you need the orignal source file that was used to make the MDL file to start with and some designers do not like handing there files to just anyone.
And there are several programs out there that one can use to design qircraft with GMAX is one but there are others as well and not all are compatable with each other. BY that I mean you might have the same program that was used to make the plane with. GMAX is able to import some files but I am not sure if it will import all of them.
It would be easier to start from scratch and redesign it on your own. ALTHOUGH THE WORD EASIER does not imply that it would be a easy task by no means 8)

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Reply #2 - Mar 16^th, 2006 at 3:15pm

grankin01 Offline
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Thanks for the quick reply and info. I cannot speak for the comanche but the cherokee uses the MDL (among other things) from the cherokee 180 AI built into fs2004.

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Reply #3 - Mar 16^th, 2006 at 6:39pm

Felix/FFDS Offline
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Still - the point of th ematter is that you cannot decompile an existing MDL file to change anything.

At most, you can tune the *.air and aircraft.cfg files to have the *effect* of a 3 bladed prop, but visually, you'd have a two bladed prop.

Felix/FFDS

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Reply #4 - Mar 16^th, 2006 at 6:41pm

Hagar Offline
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You could however change the transparent prop disc texture to one from a 3-bladed type.

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Reply #5 - Mar 16^th, 2006 at 7:09pm

Travis Offline
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garymbuska is correct. You would have to have the source files, or create one of your own.

Unfortunately, creating your own aircraft is very time consuming and leaves you with very little hair afterwards! Grin

But if you are interested, go check out Discreet's Gmax, which is free for download, and is the little brother of 3DMax, which is used by top game designers around the world. It has a high learning curve, but is well worth the effort.

~~http://www.discreet.com~~

TurboSquid.com/gmax

On the other hand, there is FSDS (Flight Simulator Design Studio) which is a very user-friendly program designed specifically for making aircraft for FS.

http://www.abacuspub.com/catalog/s492frame.htm

There are some types of files which can be shared between different programs, but most are platform specific.

Gmax has many plugins that allow it to access already-created files from different programs (such as FSDS).

Here is a load of links for designing:
http://gameart.jaquays.com/model_resources.html

Here are the plugins for Gmax:
http://www.davidhsmith.net/Essential_Tools.htm

Good luck!

« Last Edit: Mar 16^th, 2006 at 10:18pm by Felix/FFDS »

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Reply #6 - Mar 16^th, 2006 at 10:21pm

Felix/FFDS Offline
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Locke - I took the liberty of editing your post. Discreet transferred the handling of gmax registrations and "official" support to Turbosquid. For flightsim purposes, even though Turbosquid has gmax/FS Gamepack support board, the flightsim modeller is better served by flightsim specific sites such as Simviation,and (of course) Freeflight Design Shop

Felix/FFDS

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Reply #7 - Mar 17^th, 2006 at 1:09am

Travis Offline
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Quote:

Locke - I took the liberty of editing your post. Discreet transferred the handling of gmax registrations and "official" support to Turbosquid. For flightsim purposes, even though Turbosquid has gmax/FS Gamepack support board, the flightsim modeller is better served by flightsim specific sites such as Simviation,and (of course) Freeflight Design Shop

Whoops! Thanks, Felix.

Nice shameless plug there, by the way . . . Wink

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Reply #8 - Mar 17^th, 2006 at 7:04am

grankin01 Offline
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Thanks to everyone for all the great info. Unfortunately I guess this will be like everything else in life and have no easy way out.

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Reply #9 - Mar 17^th, 2006 at 5:34pm

Travis Offline
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An easy learn for a design program is to get something (FSDS or Gmax) and then go to either SimV's Adopt a Design Page or Flight Simulator Design Shop's Gmax Projects or FSDS Projects pages. You can download any of these aircraft, take a look at them and figure out how a fully developed aircraft is created.

But that's just the modelling process. There's sooooooo much more . . . Wink

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Reply #10 - Mar 17^th, 2006 at 10:27pm

grankin01 Offline
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Funny you should say that Locke after I read to your last post I did just that and found the source file for a cherokee 180 that Ole Egholm(?) was nice enough to upload for study and (with permission) use. Have added the three bladed prop and textures to the wings but I am having a little trouble adding textures to the fuselage. Tongue

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